


All I Want for Christmas Is You

by NephilimEQ



Series: Christmas Medley [4]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Christmas gift, Gay Love, Humor, I wrote all these stories in a day and a half, Love Confessions, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, cute couple fighting, so many gay ships, they are so totally married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 05:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13139802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NephilimEQ/pseuds/NephilimEQ
Summary: Rodney was beyond irritated. Out of all the times for this to happen, it had to happen at Christmas. John had been called away by Stargate Command to what was supposed to be a brief mission with one of the SG teams who was short a man…but he still wasn’t back. He didn’t like suffering alone, so he made sure that everyone knew about his feelings, and that they were all suffering along with him.





	All I Want for Christmas Is You

 

** All I Want for Christmas Is You **

Rodney was beyond irritated. Out of all the times for this to happen, it had to happen at Christmas. John had been called away by Stargate Command to what was _supposed_ to be a brief mission with one of the SG teams who was short a man…but he _still_ wasn’t back. He didn’t like suffering alone, so he made sure that everyone knew about his feelings, and that they were all suffering along with him.

However, it didn’t seem to be working. Everyone else had simply told him that it wasn’t that big a deal. Teyla and Ronon were the least help, as neither of them celebrated Christmas, let alone knew what it was, and didn’t see what the big deal was with the fact that the mission had run a couple of days over.

“You don’t get it,” he tried to explain to the two of them over lunch. “This is our first Christmas, you know, _together,_ ” he added pointedly. Not everyone on base knew yet, so he tried to be somewhat discreet. “I actually picked out a present and everything! I decorated the room, I had a ham shipped in, along with some pineapple…I even convinced Beckett to let me use some of his best rum for homemade eggnog!”

They both gave him blank looks, neither of them understanding, and Rodney groaned.

“Christmas is an Earth holiday of a typically religious nature that we celebrate once a year, where we eat a lot of food and spend time with the people in our life that mean the most to us,” he tried to explain. “And to have to spend it without him…”

His voice trailed off and Teyla simply took a bite of her potatoes and said, “So you’ll see him a day or two later. It’s not that bad, Rodney. You two spend plenty of time _together_ , after all,” she added slyly, and Rodney had the sense of mind to blush. Yes, the warrior woman had caught the two of them several times in stages of undress, and even though he was embarrassed about it, he had the faint inkling that John had made it happen on purpose. He liked to flaunt their relationship around the people they were close to.

“That’s not what this is about,” he muttered, stabbing at the potatoes on his own tray.

“Then what is it about?” gruffly inquired Ronon, leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

The scientist let out a frustrated sound.

“It…it’s about…it’s about sharing time with each other. It’s about…showing someone how much you appreciate them, even when it seems like you don’t, by giving them something personal and thoughtful that shows just how much they mean to you and have meant to you over the year. It’s about, it’s about…”

He fell silent and then Teyla softly supplied, “Telling someone how much you love them?”

The scientist took another bite of his potato. Maybe he should complain to Woolsey. He might understand.

\--

“I don’t have any more information than you do, Rodney,” their leader said as he walked past him from his office out into the corridor, clipboard under his arm. “We got the general communication from the SGC four days ago, and haven’t heard anything since. In this case,” he added, “No news is good news. If they contacted us at all, it would be to tell us that something had most likely not gone according to plan.”

Rodney whined.

“But what if something’s happened? I mean, maybe something happened at the SGC and they don’t have the means to communicate with us, and maybe that means that--”

“Dr. McKay,” Woolsey said in a clipped tone. “If I hear _any_ thing, I will let you know. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to attend to.”

And with that, he turned on his heel and walked into the nearest transporter. Rodney stood there feeling more useless than usual. It was the day before Christmas and he was alone. Not exactly what he’d been expecting for their first Christmas together.

Feeling sorry for himself, he headed back to his quarters, but nearly ran into Dr. Keller on the way there.

“Woah! Sorry about that,” she said, steadying herself with a hand on his shoulder. “Not quite paying attention to where I was going.”

“It’s okay.”

She gave him a curious look, one eyebrow arched, and then carefully asked, “Are you okay, Rodney? You’re looking a bit…glum.”

Rodney rolled his eyes.

“It’s just…Sheppard isn’t back yet,” he replied as lightly as he could, trying to pretend that it wasn’t that big a deal. “I mean, we sorta had plans for Christmas tomorrow, but, like Ronon and Teyla said, it’s not really that big of a deal, so I’ll just forget about it…”

Her eyes went wide.

“Christmas is _tomorrow?_ ” He nodded. “I completely forgot about it.”

“How do you forget about Christmas?”

She gave him a look.

“Well, we don’t follow the calendar all that much around here on Atlantis, and it’s not like there’s decorations up or anything to remind me, _plus_ I’ve been pretty busy with the new inoculations on PS-861, so, yeah: I forgot.” She tugged him by the elbow and they walked towards the infirmary. “But, we’re not talking about me. You said something about John being gone? Did you and he have plans?”

Rodney let himself be lead, and reluctantly confided in her, not sure how to explain his feelings.

“Yeah, we kinda did,” he begrudgingly admitted. “I tried to tell Teyla and Ronon about Christmas and why it was important, but it sort of--”

“Went over their heads?”

He nodded.

“Exactly. This is our first Christmas together, so I actually made some effort to show him that I care! I decorated the room, got ham and pineapple, bought him a present, and now it all seems…pointless. I mean,” he quickly explained, “It took me forever to figure out what to get him, which was the hardest part. So, I finally decided on a signed football from his favorite team. You can’t imagine the strings I had to pull to get it here, let alone the cost--”

Jennifer squeezed his arm, gently cutting him off, and gave him one of her soft, reassuring smiles that worked so well with her patients, and said, “I think it’s sweet that you’re trying to make it special, Rodney, but…”

“But?”

She stopped walking.

“But…I think you’re forgetting the most important part.” He looked at her quizzically, and she rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh and blurted, “ _You_ , you big idiot! You really think after being on a mission to god-knows-where doing god-knows-what for over a _week_ , that he’s going to care about any of that?”

“Well, I thought that, you know, he would like the effort…”

She put a hand on his shoulder.

“The effort is sweet, and I’m sure he’ll love it…but I’ve gotta hunch that all he’s probably gonna want to do is hole up in your room for the next few days, if you know what I mean…”

Rodney blanched, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with the direction their conversation had gone, and she laughed and turned to go back down the hallway and said over her shoulder, “Don’t act so embarrassed, Rodney. I’m the one who had to clear you two, remember?”

He pivoted sharply and headed back to his quarters. He didn’t want to be a part of the conversation any longer. Dr. Keller seemed to take too much pleasure in making him uncomfortable.

But as he walked back, his pace slowed as he thought about what she had said just before that. That all John would really want from him was, well, _him._ If that was the case, then maybe he didn’t need all the stuff that he’d put together. As soon as he thought of it, however, he brushed it off. No. He needed it. He was lousy at showing his emotions, so he had to show it through his actions.

Instead of heading to his room, he headed out to the pier and their spot. It had become their spot ever since the incident with the parasite in his brain.

He sat there for a long time, his legs dangling over the edge of it, trying to ignore the fear that festered in the back of his mind that something horrible must have happened, which was why John wasn’t back yet, instead enjoying the last lingering heat of the day.

No. Sheppard was fine.

After what felt like a small eternity, he took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh and glanced at his watch. He’d been out there for over two hours. Aw, hell. He was supposed to have been back at the lab over twenty-minutes ago. He thought about heading up to the lab…but then decided not to. What was the point? Besides, Zelenka would probably appreciate not having him there for the next few hours, anyway, so he might as well just stay there.

Eventually, however, night fell, heavy clouds obscuring the sun as it set and the stars as they rose, giving him no reason to stay out there any longer.

This time, he _did_ go back to his quarters.

As he approached his door, however, he saw it was already open. Nervous, he cautiously pushed it open with one hand…and froze when he saw who was standing in the middle of the room.

John.

He was back.

“John…? What are you…? How come no one told me you were--”

“I just got back,” he said shortly, answering the unfinished question. John then gave him a look, one eyebrow cocked, then looked at the room and asked, “Is this…for me?”

That was when Rodney remembered the state of the room, fully decked out in green garland and gold tinsel, along with a small, fake Christmas tree with a few tiny ornaments on it. Swallowing, he nodded and replied, “Yes. It’s for you. Well, to be more accurate,” he quickly added, “It’s for _us._ I mean, uh…it’s our first Christmas and I sorta wanted to, you know…commemorate it.”

His boyfriend stood there for a long time, and the scientist waited with baited breath, unsure of what his reaction would be.

Finally, he let out a breath and said, “Reminds me of home.”

“Uh, is that a _good_ thing…?”

John gave him a wide grin and nodded.

“Yeah, Rodney. It’s a very good thing.”

Feeling a rush of overwhelming relief, he finally moved towards him and they hugged, slightly awkwardly as John still hadn’t taken off his tactical vest. But, still; Rodney hung on for as long as he could until it became too uncomfortable and then said, “Yeah, you need to get this stupid thing off. It’s digging into my spleen.”

John let out a chuckle, but pulled back and shucked it off, as well as kicked off his boots, and then sat himself down on their shared bed. He sat cross-legged in the middle of it and motioned for Rodney to join him, so he ditched his own shoes and did the same.

“So…didja get me a present?” Sheppard asked, a childish glee in his eye.

Rodney rolled his eyes.

“Yes, but it’s Christmas Eve. You can wait.”

John whined.

“Oh, c’mon, it’s tradition in my family to open one present the night before! Now, gimme!” He stretched out his hands, but Rodney shook his head and replied, “I only got you one, so you’re just gonna have to wait, Sheppard. I don’t care. Deal with it.”

The man who was exactly one year older than him gave him a look that could only be described as a pout. Rodney found himself rolling his eyes yet again. For being an adult in the military, the man was nothing but a huge child sometimes. Well, most of the time, when he thought about it. Sure, he had his few moments of responsibility and level-headedness, but most of the time he was a ten-year-old trapped in a man’s body, and right now he was only proving the point.

“Rodney! You only got me _one_ present? How is that fair?”

“Oh, so you got me more than one?” the scientist retaliated, giving him a look. Sheppard avoided looking him in the eye and then muttered, “Uh, actually…I might’ve… _maybe…_ forgot…?”

Rodney groaned. Of _course,_ he’d forgotten. It was like their roles were reversed somehow; Rodney was trying to do the romantic gestures and was taking an effort to remember the important things, and John had let it slip his mind completely, turning into another version of the scientist. He couldn’t really hold it against him, though. He’d been on a mission for over a week, which didn’t exactly lend itself to time to go shopping, let alone remember that it was even December.

“Of course, you did,” he drawled, letting his hands drop listlessly to his thighs.

John gave him a look reminiscent of a kicked puppy and then reached over with one hand and wrapped warm, soft fingers around Rodney’s forearm.

“I didn’t _mean_ to forget,” he softly defended himself. “It’s not like I went out of my way to try and think of the _one_ thing that would make you angry with me. I mean, there was the mission and there was a lot of shooting, and running…and then even _more_ shooting and _more_ running…”

Rodney’s eyes widened at hearing this. John hadn’t mentioned that before. What had exactly happened out there?

“And, the entire time it was going on, the entire time we were hiding and trying to find a safe way back to the gate, all I could think about was getting home to you. It doesn’t excuse this, I know,” he abruptly added, dropping his hand from the scientist’s arm, down to his knee. “And I can’t exactly promise that it _won’t_ happen again, because I suck at remembering dates, but--”

“You were being shot at?”

John lifted his eyes.

“Does it matter?”

Rodney let out an exasperated sound and scooted forward on the bed and said, “Well, duh! Of _course_ , it matters! I don’t care that you didn’t get me anything, I’m just glad you’re back home alive! What happened over there? Why were you being shot at? Who was doing the shooting?”

“Whoa there, easy tiger,” John quickly reassured him. “It was just some guys with some attitude, who were pissed that we’d walked on some sort of native, sacred site. But like I said, does it really matter?”

“Didn’t I just _say_ that it did?”

The military man rolled his eyes and snapped, “I’m here and I’m in one piece. Isn’t that enough?”

He made as if to protest again, but then Rodney stopped and thought about what his boyfriend had just said. _I’m here and I’m in one piece. Isn’t that enough?_ And it made him think of what Jennifer had said to him out in the corridor. _I think you’re forgetting about the most important part._ You, _you big idiot!_

Suddenly, the signed and wrapped football that was stashed under the bed seemed to not matter anymore. All he needed for Christmas, more like all that _either_ of them needed for Christmas, was each other. He was just happy that he had John back in one piece. Sure, he felt as if he needed to know all of the facts and every single excruciating detail…but at the same time, he just wanted to pull the man into his arms and not let him go for as long as he possibly could….and possibly throw him onto the bed, as well.

Rodney swallowed and finally said, “It’s…it’s more than enough…”

And that was when he kissed him.

They took their time, despite John trying to rush him with a hand running firmly his thigh, towards his button on his pants. Rodney would have none of it, however, and slowed the man down with a gentle hand on his wrist and soft, lingering kisses, deliberately keeping his overly-eager boyfriend from taking off at break-neck speed.

After a while, in between kisses, John gasped out, “Does this…mean that…you’re not…going to……give me….my present?”

Rodney rolled his eyes and drew his head back just as Sheppard sucked on his lower lip, pulling away with a soft sucking sound.

“Are you serious?”

John smiled at him, a manic gleam in his eye.

“Gimme.”

“Oh, I’ll give you something, alright,” Rodney growled out. He then lunged forward and pinned the older man to the bed, his hands on either side of his head and his knees pinning John’s thighs to the bed. “It’s. Not. Christmas.”

John smirked up at him.

“Give me. My. Present.”

Rodney grinned back at him. Oh, he was _definitely_ getting his present. They _both_ were.

 

 


End file.
